Czech government loses vote of confidence

A centre-left government put together by Czech President Miloš Zeman after the previous government collapsed in June over a corruption scandal has lost a vote of confidence in the country’s parliament.

The 200-seat lower house yesterday (7 August) voted 100 to 93 against the government of Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok.

The centre-right parties that supported the previous government have a majority in parliament and have lashed out at the centre-left Zeman for denying their preferred candidate for prime minister, Miroslava Němcová, a chance to put together a working coalition.

The constitution allows Zeman a second attempt to appoint a prime minister who can muster a majority in parliament; but since there is no constitutional time limit on the process, Rusnok could, in principle, stay on as caretaker prime minister until the next general election, scheduled in the spring.

Zeman announced before the vote that he would let Rusnok continue for several more weeks, until an investigation into the corruption scandal that toppled the previous government has been completed.

In an alternative scenario, parliament could dissolve itself and force an early election. Until yesterday’s vote, and with the centre-left Social Democrats leading in the polls, the centre-right bloc in parliament opposed an early election, saying it had the democratic right to form a government.

But after several lawmakers broke ranks and vote in favour of Rusnok, the centre-right TOP09 party of Karel Schwarzenberg, a former foreign minister, said he would now join the Social Democrats’ push to hold early elections.

The new administration has replaced close to 100 government appointees in ministries, agencies and state-owned companies, prompting accusations of a power-grab.